Australian Merino Sheep

From EnvironmentWiki

Sheep Population Numbers in Australia

--Nichole Hoskin 13:54, 24 July 2008 (EST)

mother sheep and lamb, near Wagga Wagga, NSW, photographed by Jennifer Marohasy, July 4 2008

Animal Welfare

Campaigning

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) have been campaigning to stop Australian wool producers from mulesing merino sheep.

In October 2004, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) began a campaign to promote consumer boycotts of Australian wool because of mulesing of merino sheep in Australia, which PETA views as cruel to sheep. In November 2004, the wool and sheep industry, with the support of Federal Government, decided to cease mulesing by 2010. Recently, clothing labels such as Adidas, H&M and Perry Ellis have publicly joined PETAs boycott of Australian wool because of mulesing.

Mulesing involves the cutting away of a flap of skin from the backside and tail of lambs. Australian wool producers use mulesing to reduce the risk of flystrike, which occurs when blowflies lay eggs in the moist wool around the sheep’s backside. The eggs develop into maggots that eat the sheep’s flesh, causing pain and suffering. Sheep with flystrike often need to be euthanized. The Australian Government, the Australian Veterinary Association and RSPCA Australia recognise that, in the absence of a humane alternative, mulesing is a necessary part of sheep husbandry because it prevents or minimises the pain and suffering of sheep caused by flystrike.

While the wool industry has funded research and development of viable alternatives, there is currently no alternative to mulesing that can be rapidly adopted by wool producers. A clip has been developed to remove the flap without cutting the sheep. However, PETA also opposes the clip because they argue it causes suffering to the animal. The CSIRO and wool industry are also researching breeding merino sheep without the flap, although this approach could take 20 years to remove the need for mulesing.

PETAs campaign against Australian wool is financially significant since Australia is the world’s largest producer of wool, with wool exports valued at $2.64 billion in 2005/2006. Australian wool producers are unsure whether they will be able to find a market for their wool if they mules their sheep. Some wool producers are using an anaesthetic spray to minimise pain for the lamb, although whether this wool is marketable during the boycott is unclear.

field of sheep, near Young NSW, photographed by Jennifer Marohasy, July 4 2008